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College Football Odds List Ohio State Win Totals at 11: Perfect Season vs. Two Losses

Our professional college football analyst discusses the 2015 regular season win total for defending national champion Ohio State. Can the Buckeyes go a perfect 12-0 and exceed their win total of 11.0 placed upon them at 5Dimes?

Ohio State 2015 Football Regular Season Win Total
The defending college football national champions Ohio State Buckeyes enter the 2015 campaign with lofty expectations. All you have to do is look at the college football regular season win totals at 5Dimes to realize just that. Currently 5Dimes has Ohio State at over 11.0 wins (+100), and under 11.0 wins (-140). In this article I’ll be addressing the pros and cons of making a wager for one of your college football picks pertaining to this subject matter.

Season Opener at Blacksburg
The Buckeyes open the season with a very tough road test at Virginia Tech. This game will be circled not only because it’s the opening game of the 2015 season, but also it’ll be a huge revenge spot for Ohio State. It was the Hokies who handed Ohio State their only loss during their 14-1 season a year ago. Virginia Tech upset the Buckeyes in Columbus 35-21 as a 10.0 point underdog. Following that loss, Ohio State reeled off 13 wins in a row on their way to winning the national championship. Virginia Tech went a terrific 57-8 at home between 11/30/2002 and 10/13/2012. However, since that time, the Hokies are just 8-8 in Blacksburg, and that includes 3-6 during the last nine. With all that being considered, coming away with a road win in this game won’t be considered to be as daunting a task, than it may have originally seemed when the game was scheduled a few years back.

Favorable 2015 Schedule
Besides the season opener at Virginia Tech, the rest of the schedule shapes up very nicely. The Buckeyes other three non-conference games are at home versus Hawaii, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan. They’ll be huge favorites in each of those contests, and I’d be thoroughly shocked if any of those three opponents pose any type of serious threat. Their Big Ten road slate includes games at Indiana, Rutgers, Illinois, and Michigan. Three of those four teams possessed losing record in 2014, and the lone exception was Rutgers who finished 8-5. However, it must be noted that the Scarlet Knights finished at 3-5 in Big Ten action. As a matter of fact, those four 2015 road opponents went a combined 10-22 in conference play a season ago. The toughest part of their schedule will be played in Columbus when they host Maryland, Penn State, Minnesota, and Michigan State. Those clubs went a combined 33-19 overall in 2014, and 18-14 in Big Ten games.

Target on their Heads
As with any defending national champion, Ohio State will have the proverbial target on their head in the upcoming 2015 regular season campaign, and will have to absorb the best shot from each opponent. They’re certainly capable of being up to the task, but the mental fatigue of being in that situation week in and week out maybe their toughest obstacle.

The Urban Meyer Factor
Since the hiring of Urban Meyer as head coach prior to the start of the 2012 season, Ohio State has gone a terrific 38-3, won the 2014 national championship, and went 12-0 in 2012. That 2012 perfect season was wasted due to the football program being on probation, and was banned from playing in a bowl game. Otherwise, we may have been talking about two national titles in three years in Columbus for Urban Meyer. In addition, his teams won two national championships while he was the head coach at Florida. He also was the former head coach at Utah and Bowling Green University. Between those four stops, Meyer has a career head coaching record of 142-26 (.845) at the major college football level. His three teams at Ohio State have gone 24-0 in Big Ten regular season play.

Final Analysis
Obviously a winning wager on the Buckeyes going over 11.0 regular season wins will require a perfect 12-0 record. I’ve certainly made some strong points as to why that can be a distinct possibility. Wagering on any team to go unscathed during an entire regular season campaign comes with high risk in this modern era of college football, regardless of talent level, and for that reason I wouldn’t advise such a bet. I also wouldn’t wager on Ohio State losing two or more regular season games. In closing, there are many enticing college football win totals on the board which possess much better value.